Cottagers to bounce out slump

FULHAM remain on course to keep their ‘Yo-yo club’ tag – despite a major stumble in recent games.

The Cottagers topped the Championship heading into Christmas, at the halfway point in the season.

But despite also being top scorers in the division, former Everton and Watford manager Marco Silva has seen his team fail to win in the last five games.

A rejuvenated Aleksandar Mitrovic is the league’s top scorer on an astonishing 22 goals. And if pre-season title favourites Fulham do make it up again this season it will be the fifth campaign in a row they have moved between the Premier League and the second tier.

Shortly after his appointment in the summer, Silva (above) stated: “The rollercoaster and the highs and lows are not something you want.

“We need to try and get off this rollercoaster that we’re on. We need to break that cycle.”

But that remains a medium-term goal, with more thrills and spills in store for the fans during the current campaign.

Silva detected anxiety from his players in the 1-0 home defeat by Sheffield United last week. And the coach was unhappy with the lack of intensity and chances created against the Blades.

But looking forward, he said: “In the last 12 matches we’ve lost only one, so we can look at all the picture instead of just the last five games.

“The main thing for us is not to talk just about the last four of those. We performed really well at home against Bournemouth, even if we didn’t win. We have to go again next time.”

Birmingham are one of the clubs currently grateful to those who had points deducted in the Championship – for now at least keeping the possibility of relegation at bay.

And Lee Bowyer will want a busy January window to reshape his squad – though that may well mean selling in order to buy.

The manager remains frustrated at the lack of investment. The Blues, even with Troy Deeney, look in need of a shake-up if it is not be a long and grim second half of the campaign.